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Blackburne 
 
Joseph Henry Blackburne
Number of games in database: 888
Years covered: 1861 to 1916
Overall record: +439 -219 =195 (62.9%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      35 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 French Defense (49) 
    C11 C01 C00 C13 C10
 Ruy Lopez (48) 
    C77 C65 C60 C70 C67
 Scotch Game (41) 
    C45
 Vienna Opening (37) 
    C25 C29 C26 C28
 Evans Gambit (35) 
    C51 C52
 French (32) 
    C11 C00 C13 C10
With the Black pieces:
 French Defense (84) 
    C01 C11 C00 C14 C02
 Ruy Lopez (43) 
    C61 C62 C66 C60 C71
 French (37) 
    C11 C00 C10 C13
 Sicilian (31) 
    B45 B21 B22 B25 B30
 Queen's Pawn Game (22) 
    D00 D02 D05 A46 A40
 Scandinavian (22) 
    B01
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   NN vs Blackburne, 1880 0-1
   Blackburne vs NN, 1863 1-0
   NN vs Blackburne, 1871 0-1
   A Steinkuehler vs Blackburne, 1863 0-1
   Blackburne vs Mr. L, 1886 1-0
   Bird vs Blackburne, 1886 0-1
   Blackburne vs J Schwarz, 1881 1-0
   R Steel vs Blackburne, 1881 0-1
   Blackburne vs Lipschutz, 1889 1-0
   Lasker vs Blackburne, 1899 0-1

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   tactics 2 by tactics
   The Matches of the 3 Great Players In The 1800's by Knight13
   New York 1889 by suenteus po 147
   London 1883 by suenteus po 147
   Vienna 1882 by suenteus po 147
   Vienna 1873 by suenteus po 147
   Joseph Henry Blackburne by capybara
   FAVORITE PLAYERS by gambitfan
   London 1899 by suenteus po 147
   Paris 1878 by suenteus po 147
   Blackburne Miniatures by ArmyBuddy
   Blackburne and Tal meet NN by ughaibu

GAMES ANNOTATED BY BLACKBURNE: [what is this?]
   NN vs Blackburne, 1880
   Blackburne vs NN, 1863
   NN vs Blackburne, 1871
   Bird vs Blackburne, 1886
   A Steinkuehler vs Blackburne, 1863
   >> 149 GAMES ANNOTATED BY BLACKBURNE

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JOSEPH HENRY BLACKBURNE
(born Dec-10-1841, died Sep-01-1924) United Kingdom

[what is this?]
Joseph Henry Blackburne was born December 10, 1841 in Chorlton, Manchester. He came to be known as "The Black Death". He enjoyed a great deal of success giving blindfold and simultaneous exhibitions. Tournament highlights include first place with Wilhelm Steinitz at Vienna 1873, first at London 1876, and first at Berlin 1881 ahead of Johannes Zukertort. In matchplay he lost twice to Steinitz and also two times against Emanuel Lasker. He fared a little better with Zukertort and Isidor Gunsberg, by splitting a pair of matches. One of the last successes of his career was at the age of 72, when he tied for first place with Frederick D Yates at the 1914 British Championship.

 page 1 of 36; games 1-25 of 888  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves Year Event/LocaleOpening
1. Paulsen vs Blackburne 1-033 1861 Manchester blind simC00 French Defense
2. Paulsen vs Blackburne 1-050 1861 Manchester (England)C15 French, Winawer
3. A Steinkuehler vs Blackburne 0-124 1861 ManchesterC44 King's Pawn Game
4. Blackburne vs H B Parminter 0-135 1862 LondonC51 Evans Gambit
5. Steinitz vs Blackburne 1-042 1862 London (England)C01 French, Exchange
6. Hannah vs Blackburne 1-041 1862 LondonC42 Petrov Defense
7. Blackburne vs T W Barnes 0-153 1862 LondonB21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4
8. Anderssen vs Blackburne 1-031 1862 LondonC33 King's Gambit Accepted
9. Blackburne vs Payne 1-030 1862 ManchesterC45 Scotch Game
10. Anderssen vs Blackburne 1-053 1862 LondonC01 French, Exchange
11. Blackburne vs Howard 1-036 1862 LondonC55 Two Knights Defense
12. Blackburne vs Steinitz 0-140 1862 London (England)C51 Evans Gambit
13. Blackburne vs J Robey 0-136 1862 LondonC44 King's Pawn Game
14. Blackburne vs Mongredien  ½-½52 1862 LondonB01 Scandinavian
15. Blackburne vs A Pigott 1-021 1862 LondonC34 King's Gambit Accepted
16. Blackburne vs F Young ½-½24 1862 LondonC41 Philidor Defense
17. Blackburne vs Lomax 1-039 1862 ManchesterC01 French, Exchange
18. G MacDonnell vs Blackburne 1-050 1862 LondonC54 Giuoco Piano
19. Blackburne vs Gillam 0-132 1862 LondonB40 Sicilian
20. Blackburne vs Steinitz ½-½16 1862 LondonC67 Ruy Lopez
21. Blackburne vs V Green  1-043 1862 LondonC64 Ruy Lopez, Classical
22. Steinitz vs Blackburne 0-170 1862 LondonC01 French, Exchange
23. Blackburne vs Hamiliton 1-028 1862 BFX ManchesterC38 King's Gambit Accepted
24. Blackburne vs J W Rimington Wilson  ½-½32 1862 LondonB21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4
25. Blackburne vs Jebson 1-019 1862 ManchesterB40 Sicilian
 page 1 of 36; games 1-25 of 888  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Blackburne wins | Blackburne loses  
 

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 5 OF 5 ·  Later Kibitzing >
Dec-12-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  WarmasterKron: New Cross c.1865 looks far more civilised than it does these days.
Dec-20-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  Peligroso Patzer: Today's Quote of the Day deserves to be recorded on Blackburne's biographical page:

"Whiskey stimulates the imagination--but eating a big meal before the game is equivalent to giving knight odds."

--- Blackburne

Feb-25-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  Knight13: He a friend of Henry Edward Bird, right?
Mar-20-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  fred lennox: knight13 - Yes he was a friend of blackburne as he was of staunten and a host of others. Bird was one of natures noblemen, an easy man to get along with. What i like about Blackburne is his sharp play has a placidity to it, which delights in soothing intricacies and geometric overtones.
Apr-01-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  gambitfan: Famous for his "Blackburne attack" in the Scotch game...
Jul-05-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  WarmasterKron: <Knight13> Re the Blackburne/Kostic gambit, 4.Nxe5?! is indeed bad, but White's still ok after 4...Qg5! 5.Bxf7+! Ke7 6.O-O!. 5.Nxf7?? is the real trap, of course.

This may be of interest to some people: http://www.chessarch.com/excavation... - Blackburne-Zukertort, London 1881 annotated by Steinitz.

Jul-20-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sneaky: <Whiskey stimulates the imagination--but eating a big meal before the game is equivalent to giving knight odds.> In other words, kiddies, the moral of this story is.... "Drink some whiskey on an empty stomache; you can't lose." No thanks, not for me--but if it works for others I won't knock it.
Aug-30-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  whiteshark: <He left it en prise and I took it en passant.>

–- Joseph Henry Blackburne (after drinking his opponent’s glass of whiskey during a simul)

Aug-30-07   RookFile: Blackburne had a good long life.
Dec-07-07   Judah: <WarmasterKron: <Knight13> Re the Blackburne/Kostic gambit, 4.Nxe5?! is indeed bad, but White's still ok after 4...Qg5! 5.Bxf7+! Ke7 6.O-O!.> O rly? What after 6...QxN?
Dec-10-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  brankat: Wow! 166th Birthday!

But, J.H.Blackburne's games are still very much alive. Cheers!

Dec-10-07   D4n: There is nothing wrong with sharing first with Steinitz....
Jan-02-08   MichAdams: <He left it en prise and I took it en passant. When he objected, I threw him out of a window.>
Jan-02-08   MichAdams: <Re the Blackburne/Kostic gambit, 4.Nxe5?! is indeed bad, but White's still ok after 4...Qg5! 5.Bxf7+! Ke7 6.O-O!.> O rly? What after 6...QxN?>

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4 4. Nxe5
Qg5 5. Bxf7+ Ke7 6. O-O Qxe5 7. Bxg8 Rxg8 8. c3 Nc6 9. d4...

With all to play for!

Feb-26-08   chess man: Blackburne is one the greatest players from that era. I love his games!
Mar-08-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Knight13: George Henry Mackenzie has a plus score against Blackburne: search "mackenzie vs blackburne". And yet Blackburne is more well known.
May-16-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Knight13: Chessmetrics Player Profile: Joseph Blackburne

Born: 1841-Dec

Died: 1924-Sep

Best World Rank: #2 (77 different months between the September 1873 rating list and the February 1889 rating list )

Highest Rating: 2748 on the August 1886 rating list, #2 in world, age 44y8m

Best Individual Performance: 2785 in Frankfurt, 1887, scoring 10/12 (83%) vs 2613-rated opposition

Oct-03-08   GrahamClayton: Blackburne certainly earned his money when giving one of his many simuls across the United Kingdom. An example is the visit made to the Wrexham Chess Club in Wales in 1898. From 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm Blackburne gave a 6 board simultaneous blindfold display. He then would have a meal and a rest before giving a simultaneous exhbition on 30 boards. Blackburne would charge half a crown for a blindfold game and a shilling for an ordinary simultaneous game. Thus the Wrexham displays would have earned Blackburne 45 shillings, or 2 pounds 5 shillings. It has been estimated that Blackburne was playing around 2,000 games a year in simultaneous exhibitions around this time.

Source: Mike Hughes "Taken En Passant", "CHESS", May 2008

Oct-03-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Chessical: <GrahamClayton>: Blackburne would have earned about £180/$320 in current terms for his day's work. If he had to pay for his own accommodation and food and travel, that does not seem a great deal left to pocket as profit.

If we use the Wrexham ratio of 1 blindfold to 5 sighted simultaneous games, for 2,000 games a year he would earn about £10,000/$17,800 in today's value.

Dec-10-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  brankat: Close to 20 Gs a year in simuls, plus a few bucks in tournaments, mmybe an odd column for a newspaper/magazine. For doing something he enjoyed doing.
Not bad at all. Especially by today's standards.

At least 90% of today's GMs can't make their living playing Chess. Not to mention the IMs.

In last couple of decades alone quite a few promising GMs gave up their Chess careers, more or less, by the age of 30.

R.I.P. master Blackburne.

Dec-22-08   zzzzzzzzzzzz: <brankat> R.I.P. GRANDMASTER Blackburne
Dec-22-08   zzzzzzzzzzzz: blackburne annotated a lot of games
Jan-14-09   thebribri8: ...and New York City is pretty crowded.
Mar-27-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  amadeus: Chess and Alcohol: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...
Mar-27-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: From Gunsberg vs Blackburne, 1914:

Tarrasch in the tournament book: <Why does Gunsberg, at an age when Anderssen and Steinitz were still enormously strong, show scarcely a trace of his former strength? And why are the <beaux gestes> of Blackburne, a 73-year-old man -- one cannot say an old man -- still so acceptable? Could it be the power of alcohol, which Blackburne consumed in considerable quantities all his life and which proved to be a medium of preservation for him, while Gunsberg is an outspoken teetotaler? Blackburne's case is a phenomenon that the temperance union must explain, for it is appropriate for reducing their efforts directly <ad absurdum>.>

And let us not forget, Tarrasch was a doctor.

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